Articles

In 2021 the worth of Italy’s exports of machines, installations, tools and other equipment to extract and process natural stones rose by 18.5% from the previous year, reaching 1 billion 107.1 million euros. Read More

According to the analysis, in 2019 it took 39 days for a container ship to travel from China to the United States, while in 2020 it took 49 days and in 2021 68. Costs increased as well: in 2019 shipping a container by sea cost an average of US$1,421, rising to US$2,171 in 2020 and to a whopping US$7,556 in 2021. Read More

Final 2021 data processed by the Confindustria Marmomacchine Studies Center confirm the excellent growth in sales to the United States, the top destination market for both finished stone products and complementary stone technologies Made in Italy. Read More

After closing 2020 with a 17.3% drop in sales abroad, the Italian stone industry last year recorded a marked growth in its exports - which affected almost all the main sector reference markets -, linking the economic recovery and the renewed momentum of the construction sector worldwide. Read More

Catalina Research has released its latest Floor Coverings Industry Quarterly Update. According to the report, U.S. floor coverings dollar sales (shipments minus exports plus imports) growth has been increasing at double-digit rates in the first half of 2022. Read More

The annual RēCo Market Intelligence Report has held strong for 19 years. Each year, Floor Covering Weekly commissions third-party research company The Wayman Group to conduct a nationwide survey of retailers. Read More

A new publication has been posted to the USGS National Minerals Information Center website at the following link: Stone, Dimension, 2019, tables-only release Read More

Due to a decrease in non-residential spending, some commercial markets experienced a considerable dip during the pandemic (corporate, for example, as many more people worked from home). But activity is returning, and several markets are doing quite well — particularly, healthcare and education — resulting in new innovations around high-performing hard and soft surface products, or hybrid alternatives, to meet the need for mixed-use spaces and added flexibility. Read More

The National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA) released its Kitchen & Bath Market Index (KBMI) for Q1 of 2022. The quarterly report, which is aimed at measuring the health of the kitchen and bath industry, found that the industry enjoyed a successful opening quarter of the year, growing 12.6% in Q1, with industry professionals expecting further growth as the year continues. Read More

One of the largest problems is the rapidly aging demographics facing developed economies. For an economy to grow, there must be a balance of consumers and producers. This balance necessitates a growing population that skews to the younger end of the spectrum. An aging populace creates a lack of producers and tends to grind down growth as workers retire and begin pulling money and other resources from the economy. Read More